Handwritten Poem by Private Thomas Powell HANKEL

Private Thomas Powell HANKEL VX 54839 was born on 20th May 1901 in Broken Hill NSW. he enlisted on17th June 1940 and was discharged in April 1944. He served with the 2/28 Infantry Battalion. Thomas Hankel died on the 12th October 1959.
Western Australia's 2/28th Infantry Battalion was raised in 1940, In early January 1941 the 2/28th moved to Fremantle, where it joined a troopship convoy to the Middle East. The battalion arrived at Egypt at the end of the month. Disembarking at Port Tewfik in Suez, the battalion travelled by train to Palestine. The 2/28th went into camp at Khassa, north of Gaza.
In April 1941, the German Afrika Korps led a counter-attack, pushing the British from El Agheila. The 2/28th participated in defensive duties, manning parts of the Red Line, working on the Blue Line, and aggressively patrolling no man's land.
On 23 September 1941 the 2/28th was evacuated and sailed to Alexandria, from where it was transferred to the camp at Kilo 89 in Palestine. The brigade later moved to Syria and then Lebanon for rest, training, and garrison duties.
By July 1942 the war in North Africa had become critical for the British forces with the Germans and Italians reaching El Alamein in Egypt, about seventy miles from Alexandra.
The 2/28th reached the Alamein front on 10 July and just after midnight on 27 July, the 2/28th attacked Ruin Ridge and by 1 am they were on the feature. Things started to go wrong: the Germans were attacking the Australians from rear positions; three company commanders were wounded; and many of the vehicles that should have brought forward ammunition were destroyed or damaged. Increasingly cut off, an attempt by British tanks to relieve the battalion was abandoned after 22 vehicles were "knocked out". Shortly before 10 am enemy tanks began moving in on the Australians from three directions and the battalion's commander had little choice but to surrender. The Australians were rounded up and marched through the British artillery barrage, resulting in more casualties, as they moved behind the German lines.
The 2/28th suffered heavily at Ruin Ridge. Sixty-five officers and men from the battalion and its support units were killed or wounded; nearly 500 were captured and became prisoners of war. From those who participated in the attack, only 92 men remained. The 2/28th was withdrawn and rebuilt during the following weeks. It was back on the front line by September.
During the general Allied offensive from 23 October to 4 November, the 2/28th and 2/43rd raided enemy lines, while the 2/32nd directed a smokescreen and placed "dummy soldiers" in no man's land. Alamein was a great, although bloody, success for the Allies and by 6 November enemy forces were retreating. The 2/28th left Alamein in December and went to Gaza in Palestine. In January 1943 the battalion left Palestine for the Suez Canal, from where it was sailed back to Fremantle on 18 February.